A hard disk drive typically contains one or more disks clamped to a rotatable spindle motor, at least one head for reading data from and/or writing data to the surfaces of each disk, and an actuator utilizing linear or rotary motion for positioning the head(s) over selected data tracks on the disk(s). The actuator positions the read/write head over the surface of the disk as the spindle motor rotates and spins the disk.
As the head is loaded onto a disk, for example from a ramp, the servo system determines the position of the head on the disk surface by reading servo wedges passing beneath the head. A first track identified by the servo system as the head loads from the ramp is identified as an acquire track. A first user track can be assigned based on the position of the acquire track, and can define an outer boundary of a data region. The acquire track is some small distance from the ramp, and farther from the outer diameter of the disk than is optimal or desired, wasting otherwise usable space and requiring an increased track density for a given hard disk drive capacity.